Our plan for the day was to hike out to the car

We had a similar start to the day as the day before. We woke at around 7:30am and I helped Toothless with breakfast as Natasha broke down the tent.

After more chia seed pudding and cookies, a pouch and fruit cup, Toothless was ready to go.

Much of the morning was Toothless hiking along. We may have carried him up a hill or put him in the carrier for a short section but he did most of this on his own. Our goal was to assist on tough or dangerous segments of the trail so he can keep his energy for hiking the easier (and probably more enjoyable) segments of trail. He’s fiercely independent sometimes so it’s a balance and we need to take an understanding and communicative approach with him when we think he should be carried. It’s no good to surprise him and if we just want to carry him up a hill he is much more likely to be bought in if we make that very clear.

We got to Devils Staircase campsite in time for lunch. I carried Toothless through the area with steep climbs that slowed us down the day before.

Lunch was productive and after Toothless being disappointed that his bathroom break would be in a pit toilet and not in a cat hole (wuuuut haha) we got moving again.

I didn’t communicate well to Natasha. I had in mind we’d carry Toothless a few hundred meters at least, maybe more. He usually naps at this time and this section of trail has some sections with a fairly steep drop to the river. Toothless could do it, but it’s a risk and he’s likely tired at this time.

We let him walk but it was a struggle and at times Natasha had to hold his hands and try to carry him. When he gets tired he stumbles and tries to hang off your hands.

Eventually we got him up in the carrier and he slept for his afternoon nap. I flew through the rest of the hike and we got to the car at a reasonable time. I had to continue to carry him while he finished napping, so Natasha got to get dressed and clean up a bit.

The drive home was hot and slow – long weekend traffic and construction made the trip take around 7 hours instead of 3.5 hours. Our AC works in the Jeep but only when you first start the engine. Since the ferry is close by we got to crank the AC to cool the interior for that first 15 minutes of the drive, but then AC stopped as soon as we shut off the engine to take the ferry. Then nearby construction forced us to stop again with the engine off for about half an hour and sit on the hot road. The drive was grueling and we had to stop several times for Toothless to go to the bathroom during the whole trip. Toothless was really patient and liked spraying his water bottle in the car to keep cool and have fun, but it was a little much.